Week 2 - Sunday 17th September 2006

Life as a Seahawk fan was never about winning. Of course we used to like to win but almost jovially accepted that for every W there was every likelihood it would be matched by a L sooner rather than later.

So get this - the Seahawks have not lost a properly contested regular season game since 2nd October 2005. You have to disregard the final week loss to the Packers as the back ups were fielded but it really isn't too much of a stretch of the imagination to say that the Seahawks could well have been undefeated for a calendar year.

Sunday night was good and it was good early. The opening series almost told the story of the game. On 1st down Hass was sacked for a 10 yard loss. 2nd down Shaun Alexander went for 8 yards. 3rd down a 47 yard pass to Darrell Jackson. The Cards could bring occasional pressure, couldn't really stop the Hawks running game and were vulnerable to the ball over the top due to a weak secondary.

Starting from the spot of the sack it was a 90 yard drive in 10 plays culminating in runs of 14 and 2 from who else but Shaun Alexander for 7-0.

The game could almost have been over before it had begun as DD Lewis forced a fumble on the kick off return which was recovered by Kelly Jennings. Radio listeners in the UK knew before most of the fans in the stadium and all of the team that there was a flag lying back on the 30 as Darryl Tapp was harshly adjudged no more than half a yard offside on the kick.

It mattered not as after forcing a 3 and out the Seahawks moved the ball again before Matt hit Darrell Jackson in stride for a 49 yard TD reception. DJack followed this up by throwing high fives to our very own Deano in the Hawks Nest. You couldn't have made that up a couple of years ago.

With only 10 minutes played it looked like a blow out was on the Cards (sorry) but the game settled. The Seahawks D was looking very strong but aided by a penalty Arizona set up a 51 yard field goal.

The Cards Neil Rackers has one of the strongest legs in the NFL but he bounced his kick onto the cross bar and out. I've heard Josh Brown talk in the past about how hard it is to get very long kicks in Seattle because at sea level the air is 'heavy'. Maybe there's something in that.

Sadly when Brown sized up a 30 yard effort only minutes later he had his 3rd blocked kick of the season following 2 in the opener. Plackemeier didn't get the ball down dead straight but Josh looked to give up on the kick as a couple of Cards bore down.

It's not an exaggeration to say that Warner was getting sacked or hurried on every play. The LB trio of Tatupu, Hill and Peterson had the fans salivating before the start of the season but having seen them in action together for the first time then it is time to start drooling. Added to that is a great rotation on the D line with rookie DE Darryl Tapp later weighing in with another sack. Seeing how this defense goes this season promises to be a lot of fun.

The Cards ended the half by missing a hurried FG as time expired for 14-0 at the half.

The second half started slowly but after backing up the Seahawks the Cards finally got some good field position with Plackemeier having to punt from the back of his endzone. Warner couldn't do much more than edge it forward for Rackers to finally make a successful kick.

Things weren't quite going how we anticipated after the first 10 minutes but at the end of the 3rd quarter Hass finally got another drive going. I was advocating running Shaun at them but the Seahawks mixed it up with Shaun catching a pass, Mack strong breaking a 13 yard run and Mo Morris making plenty of yards after the catch busting out for 27.

Whether this is the Seahawks of the future to prolong the shelf life of Alexander I don't know but I do know that Mack Strong doesn't get many carries with the ball on the 1 yard line. Strong crashed over through a crowd and 21-3 to the Hawks at the start of the 4th quarter.

The Cards much vaunted trio of James, Boldin and Fitzgerald had not really done very much at all but for those of a nervous disposition Warner finally completed on a big pass as he hit lesser known Bry Johnson from 40 yards on 3rd and 9 to make it 21-10 with plenty of time left.

In 2005 it was often the case that the Offense would pull the Defense out of a hole but now the roles were reversed. Hass threw an interception but then the D went and got the ball back as Kelly Herndon forced a fumble and Lofa Tatupu recovered. Again the Seahawks were forced to punt but Warner was sacked twice forcing them into a punt which effectively confirmed the victory was complete.

You can't start a season better than 2-0, well not in week 2 you can't, but the Seahawks will know that there is better to come in terms of all round performance.

At the moment I think we are just glimpsing the true potential of this team but there are signs that they could be even better than the Superbowl team of 2005.

HawksHead 18/9/06

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